Hi,
As I stated in the previous message, I ended up using DOSBox for this game, with a CUE/BIN image. DOSBox supports this setup perfectly, so I could enjoy the game with music and all.
The difference for me was that I did have the original CD for the game, so I could do the rip myself trying as many options as I wanted, until I made it work.
The main thing with these kind of CDs is that an ISO image only has the data part, not the audio tracks.
IIRC, Age of Empires II and its expansions have a copy protection system in the CD, a direct copy will result in a game that doesn't start properly. I never investigated what was it about, but I know that at the time the pirated copies included a patched executable. At this point I believe it is quicker to just grab a torrent with a no-cd version (shouldn't be illegal if you already have the original cd...)
solomani, I don't know which game you are trying to get to work, but unless it is some obscure title, you should be able to find it in GOG, the Internet Archive collection, a decent torrent, or at the very minimum a crappy abandonware site.
May I know which game you are trying to get to work? I believe that if somebody is willing to spend time getting an old game to work, it probably is a good game
